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Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

poppy,
Up here in southern NY I feed 2:1 sugar : water. Reason being is that there is much less water the bees have to evaporate off the syrup.
A 4 lb. bag of sugar to 1 qt hot water so the sugar dissolves. Sometimes I heat it on the stove in a pot, just don't burn it.
I also add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, seems they take it better and it reduces the ph.
For larger amounts: 8 lb. sugar to 1/2 gal water + 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar, and 16 lbs sugar to 1 gal.+ tablespoon cider vinegar.
You might get away with 1:1 in NC, ask some local beekeepers.
For 1:1
4 lb bag sugar to 1/2 gal water + teaspoon cider vinegar. For larger amounts 8 lbs sugar to 1 gal water + tablespoon cider vinegar. You Probably don't have to heat the 1:1 to dissolve the sugar, just use very warm water.
Other beekeepers have their own mixes- but the above is what I use.

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

I usually feed 1:1 in August, heading into September. This will build up some of the population numbers after the dearth we usually get in July (and the robbing that results). Switching to 2:1 in mid September, if they need it. The 2:1 helps them put on weight, but doesn't allow them to build up as much as 1:1.

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

I thought that a 1:1 ratio is 5 lbs bag of sugar for 1 gallon of water. I got that from an online source. It made sense to me because it is a very convenient measurement, when sugar came in 5 lbs bags.

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

I guess I'm kinda like Forrest Gump, I'm not very smart, I try to do a 1:1 by measuring 16 oz. of sugar with 16 oz. of water, add 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar, and a 1/2 teaspoon of HBH.
I'm successful at them taking it quickly.
One can build these numbers depending on how much syrup one whats to make!

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

autumn feed is 2:1 - 2 parts sugar to 1 part water. Weight or volume for measurement doesn't mater as water & sugar are pretty much equivalent.

I'm finding the fastest way for me to make autumn syrup is to put a Homer bucket from Home Depot on a scale while filling from the kitchen sink. I use an immersion heater to heat the water to make dissolving the sugar a bit easier.

I find a key to fall feeding for weight gain is to feed lots of syrup quickly so that the bees store the syrup instead of consuming it for current needs. I use Mike Palmer's method of using 1 gallon paint cans inverted directly on the top bars of the upper box, with an empty box surrounding the paint cans. Last year I fed as much as 4 gallons at once to a severely under weight hive. 1 gallon of syrup works out to a very rough 10 pounds of stores - it is what I use my figuring anyway and yes I know that it isn't precise.

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

I always feed the same...5:3. I believe I saw M Bush recommend this, so I tried it and it works well for me. I put just under 2 gallons of water to 25 lbs of sugar. I get about 5 gallons at a time. I make it up using a big stainless pot on a turkey fryer burner. Takes no time at all. I don't put additives in other than HBH, but I have to watch for robbing. I will even use HBH as a drench in a couple of weeks. I did this last year and my hives all survived the winter and absolutely exploded in the spring. Can't say HBH had anything to do with it, but I thought I'd try it again this year.

Re: Feeding for Winter Buildup

This is so arbitrary: in the responses i am seeing volume to weight and volume to volume to make the 1:1 ratio. One person had 1 lbs(16 oz by weight) of sugar to 1 pint (16 oz by volume) to make 1:1. Another had 1 cup of sugar (8 oz by volume; dry) to 1 cup of water (8 ox by volume). I guess they are both 1:1 ratio, but the consistency and the properties of the syrup are not close